A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Collapse Spotlights Weaknesses in U.S. Infrastructure - The bridge that lies crumpled in the Mississippi River is the latest link to fail in a national highway system rapidly deteriorating under the strain of ever-increasing traffic volume and inadequate upkeep, transportation experts said yesterday. (READ MORE)
Bush Aide Addresses Missing RNC E-Mails - A young White House political aide was grilled inconclusively by the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday about the firings of U.S. attorneys after Karl Rove, the president's senior political adviser, failed to show up at the committee's hearing in response to a subpoena. (READ MORE)
Maliki's Impact Blunted By Own Party's Fears - BAGHDAD -- As the U.S. military attempts to pacify Iraq so its leaders can pursue political reconciliation, Iraqi and Western observers say Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his inner circle appear increasingly unable to pull the government out of its paralysis. (READ MORE)
Ruling Limited Spying Efforts - A federal intelligence court judge earlier this year secretly declared a key element of the Bush administration's wiretapping efforts illegal, according to a lawmaker and government sources, providing a previously unstated rationale for fevered efforts by congressional lawmakers this week to expand... (READ MORE)
From the Front:
Outlaw 13: Reading is FUNdamental... “From time to time I ‘read’ something and I see where I think a sentence is going to and ‘read’ what I think it was going to say versus what the sentence actually said. That is a tortured way of saying I wasn't really reading anything I was skimming through it...in other words I failed basic reading comprehension. It appears that I am not the only one...” (READ MORE)
The Gunners World: Baghdad “I am jolted by the Soldier walking past me who snaps a salute and says ‘Good Morning Sir’ I wonder what the hell is he doing? I have been in Iraq since May and we Marines do not salute in a combat zone. I am seconds away from asking him ‘Do you know where the hell we are” I salute him back and think where the hell am I? A salute out here is recognition of who the officers are, a great target for snipers or anyone else trying to find out who the leaders are... things are different here at Camp Liberty in Baghdad I learn.” (READ MORE)
Jack Army: 30,000 troops out of Iraq this fall? “Via the Army Times: ‘A key lawmaker said Tuesday that he expects the U.S. Central Command to propose in September an immediate 30,000-troop reduction in the number of U.S. forces in Iraq because of growing belief that the so-called “surge” strategy is working.’ OK, so things still suck, no reason to believe the Surge is working other than folks saying that it is, but CENTCOM will reduce forces in Iraq in the spring because things are not getting better. Uh, has Mr. Murtha lost his mind? Where is the logic in that prediction? And there's more!” (READ MORE)
My Desert Adventure: Curse of the Flamingos “I’ve learned a couple of things while I was here in Iraq. One of which—Flamingos are pure evil. Just ask any trailer park resident in ‘Tornado Alley.’ The other thing I learned was that wives are often more right than I ever realized. Last fall, my wife gave me a pair of pink flamingos to decorate my trailer. On the day they arrived, I spoke with Braye on the phone and told her that I was going to put one in front of my trailer that night when I got “home” from work. She relied ‘OK, but are you sure someone won’t use it as an aiming point?’ At the time I thought ‘Well… someone has been watching the History Channel without me’ and told her something along the lines: ‘I’m in Iraq, what could possible go wrong?’” (READ MORE)
Matt Sanchez: The Real FOB Falcon “Falcon, in southeastern Baghdad, is a Forward Operating Base (FOB) which means it's not quite big enough to be named camp, but should have enough firing power and defenses to hold its ground. Razor sharp barbed-wire and huge slabs of concrete delineate the borders in a place where boundaries save lives. Above helicopters ferrying soldiers and personnel touchdown on the landing puds. Inside, soldiers running steadily-timed round-the-clock patrols in Baghdad muhallahs emerge from dusty entry control points and onto distinctively American named routes like ‘Senator’ and ‘Jackson.’” (READ MORE)
W. Thomas Smith Jr. @ The Tank: Sacrifice, not a Casualty “FORWARD OPERATING BASE GANNON (Iraqi-Syrian border) — My embed unit, Regimental Combat Team 2, lost a Marine yesterday: Killed in an ambush while interdicting fuel tankers just up the road from my position in the Al Qaim sector. RCT2 then shut down all military to civilian communication — in order that the family be notified before word leaked out — so I have been unable to contact anyone beyond our area of operations.” (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: My View of Islam “On holy war, apostasy and the rights of women in Islam - The undisputed definition of Islam by all her adherents is “submission to the will of Allah.” This divine will is outlined in the Koran and in the teachings and deeds of Muhammad, as recorded in the Hadith or Sunna. While the Koran is considered to be the true, undiluted word of God revealed to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel, the Sunna carry less weight and have always been a cause for disagreement amongst Muslim scholars. Theologians of Islam have, however, reached consensus on the authority of a set of six volumes from the Sunna called the Sahih Sita, or authentic six.” (READ MORE)
Wolf Pangloss: Reading Democrat Minds and Sending a Positive Whammy “The American Left still has a path that can lead them out of the desolate abode of despair in which they are trapped. In fact it would be slick enough it would be worthy of Bill Clinton and would reveal that (surprise) they actually are responsible for the success of the Baghdad Security Plan and the Surge. Here is how it works.” (READ MORE)
Richard H. Collins: America's Iron Madden “A central theme of Senator Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the Democratic nomination is her experience; her purported ability to be president on ‘day one.’ Granted her most serious rivals, fellow Senators John Edwards and Barack Obama, are not exactly overflowing with experience, but this claim curiously depends on her time in the White House.” (READ MORE)
Lorie Byrd: If Democrats are upset there must be good news “If congressional Democrats seem a little hysterical these days, it just might be due to news that the surge counteroffensive in Iraq is yielding some progress.” (READ MORE)
Amanda Carpenter: Clinton: More Briefings for ‘Interagency’ Redeployment “Hours after receiving a classified briefing from Pentagon officials, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D.-N.Y.) unveiled legislation to require more briefings to get more government agencies involved in the redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq.” (READ MORE)
Oliver North: Seize the Moment “For nearly two years, the potentates of the press have been slavishly following liberal dogma and telling us that the war in Iraq is all but lost.” (READ MORE)
David Limbaugh: Sen. Leahy and the Fair-Weather Constitutionalists “Sen. Patrick Leahy has mounted his high horse again and is on the warpath against all things Bush and all things Republican.” (READ MORE)
Mona Charen: Obama's Sword “Within the past several weeks, presidential aspirant Barack Obama has announced that he would meet with America's enemies and attack America's friends. Those interested in a dramatic departure from Bush/Cheney need look no further.” (READ MORE)
Patrick J. Buchanan: Onward -- Into Waziristan! “With Hillary Clinton's lead growing, Barack Obama appears to be overreaching to keep the spotlight and highlight their differences.” (READ MORE)
Lisa De Pasquale: Nutroots’ Success Doesn’t Run Deep “Unlike their conservative counterparts, liberal bloggers have not been successful in crossing over to traditional outlets like books and talk radio.” (READ MORE)
John Hawkins: The Legacy Of The Daily Kos “Is Markos Moulitsas Zuniga AKA Kos really that powerful? No. But, does he have enormous sway on the Left? You bet he does.” (READ MORE)
Joel Mowbray: CAIR They Go Again! “Just over 24 hours before a scheduled speech it hosted by commentator Robert Spencer, Young America’s Foundation found something unexpected sitting in the fax machine: A thinly veiled threat of a lawsuit if the group allowed the talk to happen as planned.” (READ MORE)
Chuck Colson: Missing in the Debate “As the summer grinds on, the war of words over the real war in Iraq is growing hotter every day. Critics of the war are saying that the American people are fed up and want the troops to come home; that the Iraqi government needs to step up and take responsibility for the growing violence; that the war is straining our military - and our soldiers - to the breaking point.” (READ MORE)
Michael Reagan: In The Company of Heroes “It's not everyday that you get to rub elbows with some of the most courageous Americans alive, but that’s what happened to me the other day when my daughter Ashley and I visited our wounded warriors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.” (READ MORE)
Rich Lowry: How the JFK assassination changed liberalism “From a distance of nearly 50 years, the liberalism of 1960 is hardly recognizable. It was comfortable with the use of American power abroad, unabashedly patriotic and forward-looking. But that was before The Fall.” (READ MORE)
John McCaslin: Lost in Translation? “Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain of Arizona is the latest 2008 candidate to announce that he will participate in the Univision Network Presidential Forum, to be held Sunday, Sept. 16, at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla.” (READ MORE)
WSJ Review & Outlook: 'Get Smart' in Washington “Imagine this scenario: U.S. intelligence against al Qaeda has declined by two-thirds because of court restrictions, and President Hillary Rodham Clinton is asking Congress to fix the problem. But Senate Republicans refuse to cooperate until the White House turns over executive branch documents, and because they won't protect phone companies from lawsuits for cooperating on the wiretaps.” (READ MORE)
Peggy Noonan: Spouse Rules “It's gotten catty out there. Jeri Thompson is a trophy wife, as is Cindy McCain. Michelle Obama is too offhand and irreverent when speaking of her husband, and Judith Giuliani is a puppy-stapling princess. Even Hillary Clinton was a focus, for wearing an outfit that suggested, however faintly, that underneath her clothing she may be naked, and have breasts.” (READ MORE)
Kimberly A. Strassel: Reluctant Class Warriors “Back in the hot summer of 1990, Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell proudly engineered the infamous ‘luxury tax,’ a nasty little tithe on everything from furs to jewelry to yachts. Democrats were proud: Not only were they throwing new dollars at the Treasury, they'd done it by socking it to the rich. The wealthy, in the words of then-House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, would finally pay ‘their fair share.’” (READ MORE)
They Have Names: James J. Holtom “SGT James (Jim) Holtom was born in Waupaca, Wisconsin to David and Reyne Holtom on January 30, 1985. After the family moved to Woonsocket, South Dakota in 1990, where David managed the local farmer's cooperative, they settled in Rexburg, Idaho in 1995 and live there today. Jim was oldest of 8, with brothers Ben, Lee, Jacob, Calvin, John, and sisters Anna and Laura Beth. (READ MORE)
Andi: The Silly Season “Poor John Edwards. The journey from being oh-so-close to the seat of power to being rendered third on the totem poll in a race for the Democratic nomination can’t have been a good one, as the recent slew of silly stunts make perfectly clear. Is this desperation, or was Edwards a silly man all along and we simply couldn’t see the hair for the comb forest for the trees? An examination of just a few of the more incredulous stunts the campaign has pulled leaves one scratching one’s head. For starters, the decision to have Elizabeth Edwards confront a well-known political pit bull and beg her to stop the abuse was, well – dumb, or was it? I’m no fan of Ann Coulter, but c'mon.” (READ MORE)
The Sundries Shack: The Despicable Harry Reid “While rescue personnel are still trying to pull dead bodies out of the wreckage in Minnneapolis, before the first funeral, before we even know why the bridge fell, Harry Reid has decided to play politics. ‘Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the Minnesota bridge tragedy is a wakeup call on America’s deteriorating infrastructure. “Since 9/11 we have taken our eye off the ball,” said Reid, suggesting infrastructure spending has taken a back seat to spending on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.”’” (READ MORE)
Jay Tea: Vote For Me And Die! “On Wednesday, Senator Barack Obama stated that in his presidential administration, he would authorize a military invasion of Pakistan to pursue suspected Al Qaeda forces. On Thursday, he announced that he would not authorize the use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances.” (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: Bush = Napoleon “Here, for your reading pleasure, is one of those truly idiotic essays that demonstrates how accomplished academics with clever ideas about how current events compare to their particular historic specialty can be utterly ignorant of the realities of the present, which of course calls into question how well they possibly can understand the realities of the past.” (READ MORE)
Bryan Preston: Hot Air Exclusive: Jason Mattera and Robert Spencer discuss CAIR’s threat against YAF “I caught up with YAF spokesman Jason Mattera and Robert Spencer after Robert’s electrifying speech before the Young America’s Foundation conference this afternoon. Here’s an all too brief interview.” (READ MORE)
Allahpundit: Bold new voice emerges to lead anti-amnesty movement! “You can thank Fred for this, I guess. Look: changes of heart are always welcome, but when they’re this transparently calculated to help rescue a floundering campaign they’re not going to earn you much goodwill. He was Mr. Amnesty when he was the frontrunner; now that he has to carry his own bags, he’s a conservative again.” (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio: Operations in Iraq's North; Mosul's emir killed “As the Baghdad Security Plan and Operation Phantom Thunder in the Baghdad Belts of Babil, Anbar, and Diyala provinces move forward, Iraqi and U.S. forces have stepped up operations in the northern areas of Iraq. Today the Iraqi Army announced it shot and killed al Qaeda's emir of Mosul, while Iraqi security forces launched an operation in the city of Samarra in Salahadin province.” (READ MORE)
Don Surber: Joe Wilson speaks “No, not that Clintonistan jerk. The real one. Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina spoke about Iraq. The initial success of the Surge may be split the Democrats, but it is uniting the Republicans.” (READ MORE)
Ron Winter: Alberto Gonzales Did What? Russ Feingold Doesn't Get It “For the last time, it would be wonderful, absolutely wonderful, if someone on the national political scene, commentator or journalist or observer or man on the street or anyone, would say exactly what it is that Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales has done that requires ten billion Congressional investigations and related hearings. After eons of seeing California Congressman Henry Waxman and Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy repeating that just because they can't find anything wrong doesn't mean there isn't anything wrong, and simultaneously seeing Congressional approval ratings on a par with the bottom of a sewage treatment plant settling tank, I don't think there is much question that America's patience is exhausted.” (READ MORE)
Vox Veterana: Defining moments and dividing lines “Jeffreygenehk writes: ‘maybe sometime, if it`s not too personal, would you share a bit more of what you mean about your life being divided into pre and post afghanistan?’ Sure. Before I do anything else--anything at all--something needs to be made perfectly clear. I am not a combat arms soldier. I`m not infantry. I`m not (heaven forbid) SF or anything of the like. I never kicked in doors. I never bled, aside from the nail I stepped on while building a b-hut internal wall. We didn`t do street patrols or checkpoints. I never patched up someone else who was bleeding. We never lost anyone on our team.” (READ MORE)
TigerHawk: John Edwards is such a trial lawyer “John Edwards once again does not know whether he is going by foot or on horseback. We would have been screwed if he had been the guy in charge of ‘one if by land, two if by sea.’ ‘John Edwards, who yesterday demanded Democratic candidates return any campaign donations from Rupert Murdoch and News Corp., himself earned at least $800,000 for a book published by one of the media mogul's companies.... The campaign didn't respond to a question from The Post about whether it was hypocritical for Edwards to take money from News Corp. while calling for other candidates not to.’” (READ MORE)
Right Truth: Sharia Courts in America for Muslim Terrorists? “Shame on Americans for not providing Muslims with their own Sharia courts, where terrorists could be tried by a group of their ‘peers.’ (/sarcasm) Nuradin Abdi is accused of plotting to blow up a shopping mall in Columbus, Ohio. His attorney is Mahir Sherif: ‘Mahir Sherif, attorney for Nuradin Abdi (who pleaded guilty in Ohio yesterday to plotting a terror attack on a shopping mall), says his client only admitted guilt because the ignorant infidel jury would not have grasped the subtle nuances of his plan to commit mass murder.’” (READ MORE)
One Hand Clapping: Who’s Not Listening Now? “Not even a year ago the Democrats in Congress and others of their allies vehemently charged President Bush for not listening to the military. They criticized the civilian leadership of our defense establishment for creating a culture of fear wherein generals were afraid to challenge military policy. The capital sin, said they, was failing to listen to and heed General Eric Shinseki when he testified before Congress that we would need several hundred thousand troops to secure Iraq as opposed to the 100,000-plus that Rumsfeld wanted to send. Congress said they were listening and accused the administration of willfully deaf ears and further accused the administration of being married to a strategy of defeat.” (READ MORE)
Neptunus Lex: Fake but accurate “More on the dismal Scott Thomas Beauchamp charade. Turns out that after careful investigation of his claims, TNR was only able to disprove one element of his ‘vigorously fact checked’ fantasies before the Army’s investigations into his misconduct ‘stymied’ their own. Stupid Army, investigating published claims of misconduct. On one of the most shocking claims - that he and his friends, emotionally scarred by their wartime experiences mocked a disfigured female ‘soldier or contractor’ - TNR was forced to admit that the ‘substantiated’ event in fact occurred in Kuwait, prior to Beauchamp’s entry into Iraq.” (READ MORE)
MountainRunner: If the surge is working, why are we still losing? “Question: if the surge is working, why are we still losing? That's the oft asked question that starts from the wrong premise: that we're losing. Seth at Security Dilemmas gets the point of the surge: ‘The surge is intended not to pacify the country, but rather to provide sufficient security to create breathing room in which the government can pass needed laws and stabilize the political situation.’” (READ MORE)
Kat in MO: Pat Tillman: Death and Conspiracy Part IV: Damned If You Do “Having watched the 37 minute, Pentagon Briefing 31 July 2007 on Gen. William Wallace's findings regarding the death of Cpl Pat Tillman, I was interested in finding out how exactly could the famous football star's potential death as a fratricide could be, as Deputy Secretary of State Geren called it, ‘close hold.’ In other words, how would Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld and the President not know several days later that this was a possibility when the entire platoon knew and so did their officers?” (READ MORE)
Amy Proctor: Muslim Congressman Regrets Bush/Hitler Comparison, Talks Counterinsurgency “Congressman Keith Ellison, the only Muslim in the House, returned from a weekend in Iraq and talked about his experience on CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. He was asked about this comment he made on July 8 in reference to President Bush: ‘It’s almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that. After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the communists for it, and it put the leader (Hitler) of that country in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted.’” (READ MORE)
Flopping Aces: The Undoing Of A Candidate “Well, its clear now that there will be no other Democrat nominee other then Hillary. After this week Obama has proven himself unelectable. Now, I know that readers of FA are not similar to KOS readers or DummiesU fanbois whom we can all usually find under a rock, so I'm betting you all know what I'm talking about. But just in case there is a lefty crawling around....here is the scoop. Obama said today that he would pull all the troops out of Iraq and put them all into Afghanistan and THEN he would invade Pakistan.” (READ MORE)
Counterterrorism Blog: CAIR Executive Director Placed at HAMAS Meeting “The executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Nihad Awad, participated in a three-day summit of U.S.-based HAMAS members and supporters in 1993. Until now, he had been identified only as Nihad LNU (last name unknown) in FBI reports and analyses. The meeting occurred in a Philadelphia hotel in the wake of a White House ceremony formalizing the Oslo Accords, a peace deal with the potential to end the decades-old conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.” (READ MORE)
Chickenhawk Express: It Didn't Take the BDS Crowd Long “My heart aches for all of those affected by the tragedy in Minneapolis. I cannot possibly imagine the pain - both physical and emotional - that they are going through. My prayers have been going up since I turned on the news last night. But being the political hack that I am, I wondered how long it would take the BDS crowd to start blaming President Bush for the bridge collapse. According to Peter Barry Chowka over at American Thinker, it took less than 5 minutes...” (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: Erasing History At The House “The bitter partisanship in Congress will apparently get a lot worse after some shenanigans by Democratic leadership in the House last night. According to the Politico, the Democrats have not only attempted a revote after an embarrassing loss on an agriculture bill, but they've changed the records to expunge any mention of the vote they lost: ‘In a massive flare-up of partisan tensions, Republicans walked out on a House vote late Thursday night to protest what they believed to be Democratic maneuvers to reverse an unfavorable outcome for them.’” (READ MORE)
Blonde Sagacity: Appealing to the Base “Other GOP '08 hopefuls take notice. Tom Tancredo may not have a realistic shot at the Oval Office, but this is the kind of campaign talk many of us want to hear: ‘...Republican presidential hopeful Tom Tancredo says the best way he can think of to deter a nuclear terrorist attack on the US is to threaten to retaliate by bombing Islamic holy sites.’ The Colorado congressman on Tuesday told about 30 people at a town hall meeting in the state of Iowa that he believes such a terrorist attack could be imminent and that the US needs to hurry up and think of a way to stop it.” (READ MORE)
Richard Landes: 9-11 Conspiracy and the Post-Modern Mutation “9-11 Conspiracy constitutes the most powerful conspiracy theory in the brief history of the internet age. Within hours of the attacks, accusations that the Israeli Mossad had planned and executed the attacks while “4000 Jews stayed at home,” appeared, particularly in the Arab world, a textbook case of internet conspiracy mongering. In the Muslim world these theories became the dominant public voice. There, traditional conspiracy operated: We are innocent, our enemies are guilty. In 2002 a Gallup poll found a majority of Muslims interviewed did not believe Bin Laden or any Muslim did 9-11. A 2006 Pew poll found this attitude widespread even among Muslims in the US — 28% — believe that Muslims did not do 9-11 (and 32% unsure, leaving only 40% of US Muslims polled agreeing that Bin Laden carried out 9-11..” (READ MORE)
The Belmont Club: Half a loaf “Philip Carter argues that the Surge is ultimately doomed to fail because Iraq is no closer to governing itself. And while there may be gains in security, the country remains a political failure. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates looks at the depth of the Sunni-Shi'ite divide. Gates told reporters as he flew back to Washington that gains made in security in western Iraq's Anbar province and at the local level were cause for optimism, but he acknowledged they were offset by divisions at the top.” (READ MORE)
John Donovan: Congresswoman Boyda and her now-famous walk. “Coming in to work yesterday was interesting - I had voicemail from Representative Nancy Boyda - mostly about our upcoming veteran's/military group meeting next week, but a little bit about her "walk-out" during the testimony of General (ret) Keane at the HASC committee meeting. Uncle Pavian over at West Neanderthal Drive has a wrap-up of the incident and the coverage it's received in the press, along with some... commentary on the subject. Leavenworth Centurion, retired warrior, fellow rural denizen, and occasional commenter here was so fired up about it that he hit me up for contact information, which, with permission, I provided and his email chat with her staff resulted in a personal call to him from Representative Boyda. The Centurion's email to me, full of the colorful imagery we routinely fling at each other is below:” (READ MORE)
A Soldier's Mind: Meeting A Hero “Friday, June 27th, I had the distinct honor of meeting and shaking the hand of a true American Hero. I know that if he reads this, he’ll just shake his head and say that he’s not a hero at all ma’am…. just a man doing my job. But, that’s one point that I would have to argue with him about, because Marcus Luttrell is indeed a true Hero. As most of you know, I had been looking forward to Marcus’s book signing at Fort Hood, since I first found out about it.” (READ MORE)
Lawhawk: The Redirect “The New Republic continues to play games with the Scottscam story. They would like you, the reader, to believe that they've fact checked everything with their anonymous sources and to take their word on it that they got all the details right. Except for the ones that they got wrong.” (READ MORE)
Have an interesting post or know of a "must read?" Then send a trackback here and let us all know about it. Or you can send me an email with a link to the post and I'll update the Recon.
No comments:
Post a Comment